Community Corner

MoCo Headlines: Millions Spent in 9-1-1 Overtime Hours, Inaccurate Perception of Crime in Wheaton

Catch up on the week's top Montgomery County news headlines.

 With over a dozen community websites across Montgomery County, Patch brings you news from every corner of our community. Catch up on headlines you have missed this week:

Since 2002, sworn police officers have collectively worked thousands of overtime hours in the Emergency Call Center, costing Montgomery County over $4 million. Read more about the story on .

Find out what's happening in North Potomac-Darnestownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Police in Montgomery County’s 4th District say that Wheaton’s reputation for violent crime—especially in the wake of November's three carjackings—does not match reality. Read the story on .

Find out what's happening in North Potomac-Darnestownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.



Nick's Organic Farm will continue on Brickyard Road for another year. Nick Maravell and the Montgomery County Board of Education settled out of court Wednesday, canceling a late-week scheduled circuit court hearing to determine if the BOE acted inappropriately in transferring Maravell's lease to the county. Read more on Potomac Patch.

An overturned police car caused road closures and traffic backups in Chevy Chase on the evening of Dec. 15. The police car was hit by a minivan that entered the intersection of Thornapple Street and Brookville Road prematurely. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt. Read more about the accident on .

On Dec. 14, a jury found Keith D. Little of Lanham, MD, guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of Roosevelt Brockington Jr., a church deacon who was found stabbed over 70 times on Jan. 1 at Suburban Hospital. .

A group of activists and community leaders plans to protest the store in the Kentlands on Sunday, Dec. 18, in response to the home improvement chain's move to pull its ads from the TLC reality series "All-American Muslim." Read more about the story on .

A 63-year-old Rockville woman who was hit by a Ride On bus on Rockville Pike near Halpine Road (in Rockville) died from her injuries, Montgomery County Police reported early Saturday morning, Dec. 10. Read more about the story on .

A Takoma Park police officer fatally shot a man on Saturday, Dec. 10, after he fled the scene of an attempted carjacking where he stabbed his victim multiple times, police said. The shooting took place at the intersection of Riggs and Metzerott roads. Read the story on .

The highly publicized 7-Eleven group theft in Germantown has inspired a bill that delivers stiffer penalties on thefts committed by mob. Read more about the proposed bill on .

Montgomery County Council President Roger Berliner will represent Kensington once the county's districts are realigned next year, and he said he's spending time acquainting himself with town issues in the meantime. Read more on .

The sister of shooting victim Julian Kelly testified Thursday in the murder trial of Charles Baxter and Shamire Moore. Both men are accused of first-degree murder in connection with Kelly's death last August. Read more about the trial on .

Quince Orchard High School’s football team is ranked No. 3 in the Washington, DC, area in The Washington Post's final high school football rankings for the 2011 season. Read more about Quince Orchard’s football team on .

While caroling at the White House earlier this week, the Watkins Mill Chamber Singers (from Watkins Mill High School) were unexpectedly asked to sing for the president and his wife. Read more about the choir’s adventure on .

U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin and Rep. Chris Van Hollen decried a Republican budget plan Friday that would help prevent a government shutdown by denying federal workers a raise for the third year in a row and tripling their contributions to their retirements.

Maryland lawmakers are preparing to resume debate on one of Gov. Martin O'Malley's major green initiatives, an offshore wind energy bill that stalled during the last legislative session.

Even after 14 years and hundreds of installed cameras, the debate over automated traffic enforcement continues.

Maryland loses millions in potential tax revenue to out-of-state online stores, Franchot said.

The commission's proposed law change would make it easier for landowners to sue natural gas drillers in Maryland for contaminating ground water through hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking."


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